Status Selectivity: The Role of Candidate Status and Gender in Startup Job Applications (with Tristan Botelho). Revise-and-Resubmit, Organization Science
Target Startup’s Organizational Structure and Acquirer’s Integration-Separation Decision (with Ronnie Lee). Revise-and-Resubmit, Strategic Management Journal
The Evolving Impact of Founders on Startup Employee Retention (with Minjae Kim). Revise-and-Resubmit, Strategic Management Journal
Recognition: Best Entrepreneurship Paper Award, OMT Division, Academy of Management 2026Talen Flows in Venture Capital Networks (with Elaine Pak) [Link]
Generative AI and Venture Scaling (with Annamaria Conti) [Link]
Putting a Price on Mission: Social Responsibility Orientation and Startup Employment
Strategic Management Journal, (Forthcoming)
(with Matthew Lee)
Mission-driven startups attract more candidate interest and job acceptances, and candidates appear willing to give up roughly 13%–18.5% of salary to work for them. That recruiting advantage does not translate into higher job satisfaction or better employee retention.Firm Growth and Stagnation in the United States
Strategic Management Journal, 2026
(with John Haltiwanger, Joonkyu Choi, and Nathan Goldschlag)
Using a new Census dataset that tracks the full range of firm growth, the paper documents a long-run decline in high-growth firms—especially young and small ones—and a rise in businesses with little or no employment growth. It also introduces a public resource researchers can use to study and benchmark U.S. business dynamism.Early Joiners and Startup Performance
Review of Economics and Statistics, 2025
(with Joonkyu Choi, John Haltiwanger, and Nathan Goldschlag)
The first non-founder employees have a lasting effect on startup success: losing an employee who joined in the first year sharply reduces employment and revenue for as long as a decade. Losing a later hire has only a small, temporary effect, showing that critical organizational know-how is often embodied in early joiners.Startup Hiring through Firm-Driven Search: Evidence from VFA
Strategic Management Journal, 2025
(with Mike Pergler)
When startups proactively contact candidates, they are more likely to make a hire—but those recruits are also more likely to leave. The tradeoff is most relevant for lesser-known startups with urgent hiring needs, which benefit from outreach despite weaker retention.When Do Startups Scale? Large-scale Evidence from Job Postings
Strategic Management Journal, 2024
(with Ronnie Lee)
Startups that begin scaling early—measured by early hiring for managers and sales roles—are more likely to fail and are no more likely to achieve a successful exit. The evidence favors testing and refining product-market fit before committing heavily to expansion.Startup Acquisitions as a Hiring Strategy: Turnover Differences Between Acquired and Regular Hires
Strategy Science, 2024
Employees brought in through startup acquisitions leave at higher rates than ordinary new hires. The gap narrows when acquired employees have longer shared histories, founders remain with the team, and the acquired startup stays structurally separate.Founder Turnover and Organizational Change
Organization Science, 2024
(with Minjae Kim)
Startups become less likely to make major organizational changes after a founder leaves, including in cases where the departure is caused by a founder's premature death. The findings suggest that founders often enable adaptation by coordinating the people and resources needed for change, especially under uncertainty.Startup Acquisitions, Relocation, and Employee Entrepreneurship
Strategic Management Journal, 2022
Acquisitions make startup employees more likely to found new companies, both inside and outside their former firm's industry. The effect is strongest among high-human-capital employees and when the acquired startup is relocated, highlighting how post-deal disruption can spur entrepreneurship.Immigration and Entrepreneurship in the United States
American Economic Review: Insights, 2022
(with Pierre Azoulay, Benjamin Jones, and Javier Miranda)
Immigrants play an outsized role in founding U.S. companies, including high-growth ventures, and the firms they create expand labor demand. Overall, the evidence suggests immigrants contribute more as job creators than as job takers.Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship
American Economic Review: Insights, 2020
(with Pierre Azoulay, Benjamin Jones, and Javier Miranda)
The fastest-growing startups are typically founded by middle-aged entrepreneurs, not very young ones: the average founder of the top 0.1% of new ventures is 45. Relevant industry experience is a much stronger predictor of success than youth.Is There a Startup Wage Premium? Evidence from MIT Graduates
Research Policy, 2018
MIT graduates who join venture-backed startups appear to earn about 10% more than peers at established firms, but the premium disappears after comparing offers received by the same person. The difference is mainly selection: high-ability, risk-tolerant workers sort into startups, which pay competitively for their talent.When Should Startups Scale? (with Ronnie Lee), Harvard Business Review (HBR.org), 2024 [Link]
The Challenge of Retaining Startup Talent After an Acquisition, Harvard Business Review (HBR.org), 2024 [Link]
Servicification in the US Economy: The Role of Startups versus Incumbent Firms (with Mercedes Delgado and Karen Mills), NBER Volume: The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, 2020 [Link]
Entrepreneurship and Innovation at MIT: Continuing Global Growth and Impact (with Edward Roberts and Fiona Murray), Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, 15(1):1-55, 2019 [Link]
The Average Age of a Successful Startup Founder Is 45 (with Pierre Azoulay, Benjamin Jones, and Javier Miranda), Harvard Business Review (HBR.org), 2018 [Link]